Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival 3-30-10 Edition

Wow! This is an incredible edition for me this month. They are always good but this one has really touched on things I'm thinking about.

Here it is at Jimmie's Collage.

Scripture Memory System

I recently went to a homeschool workshop put on by Sonya Shafer from Simply Charlotte Mason. During the workshop Discipleship Is... she explained her Scripture Memory System which we have already started and I LOVE! It is a gentle, enjoyable and effective way to successfully memorize scripture. My purpose in this post is to give you some visuals and mention a few tips that Sonya pointed out.

I have taken pictures of the four steps you will do once you have established your routine, whether you do this once a day or at each meal or whenever.

Step One: The 1 Daily tab, read this every time.





Step Two: The 2 Odd/Even Tabs, read from a card behind one of these two tabs depending on the day, since today is Jan. 30th we will read the card behind the even tab. Read this after you read the Daily verse.





Step Three: The 7 Days of the Week Tabs, you pick the card behind whatever day of the week it is. since today is Saturday I chose the card behind the Sat. tab. Read this after you read the Odd/Even verse.

Step Four: The 31 Dates in the Month Tabs, you pick the card behind the tab of that particular date, today is the 30th so I pulled the card out from behind tab number 30. Read this after you read the day of the week verse.

And that is it. It shouldn't take more than 5 - 10 minutes. One of the things that Sonya mentioned was to take turns reading the cards. For example there are 4 of us using this system, today ds2 reads the cards, tomorrow ds 3 will read, Monday ds1 will read, Tuesday I will read and then we start over again. The person reading the cards states the reference of the verse by himself, then everyone reads the reference again with him, then we all recite the verse, then the reference again, for a total of three times saying the reference. Do not spend time trying to learn the first sentence or first few words of a verse, say the whole verse(s) every time.

Think of the way you read these verses. Quote beautiful words in beautiful ways.

Lastly she advises that this is a spiritual discipline, don't force it. You can always keep practicing if, for whatever reason or another, they aren't.

I hope this encourages you to be diligent with your scripture memorization and I also hope that you will enjoy it as we are.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12

Who is Charlotte Mason and what is her Education Philosophy?

“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” -Charlotte Mason

My idea for this series of posts is to send you to different people who are using the Charlotte Mason method in their homeschool so you can see their method in action. But I want to give you some background on what I am going to be talking about.

I first learned about Charlotte Mason when my oldest son was 2 years old; he is now 10 years old. Every year has been a progression in understanding this method. The reason I say that is because I was so excited with the ideas that I wanted to skip the why and get right to the “how to” and in doing that I was missing the whole reason why I was attracted to Charlotte Mason in the first place.

I know trying to learn the method is overwhelming at first because it is a way of life, it doesn’t fit into a block of time during your day, but it is worth it. Even if you just start with one subject or point (which you will learn soon) and gradually take on anther one or two as you become comfortable, you will see why it is worthwhile to take the time to understand the philosophy behind the method.

What have you come for?

“I have come to learn to teach.”

You have come to learn to live.

–Charlotte Mason

The first place to point you to is the source, of course. Charlotte Mason wrote a 6 book series called The Original Homeschooling Series. You can read it online here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html Notice that you can read it in the original language or our modern language, plus there are a bunch of other options.

Which has to lead into introducing the wonderful ladies at Ambleside Online http://www.amblesideonline.org/AOstory.shtml who are homeschool mothers that have volunteered their time to help each other and us learn how to use this method. Here is their introduction to Charlotte Mason: http://www.amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml and one other page about what a Charlotte Mason education is and is not: http://www.amblesideonline.org/FAQ.shtml#aboutcm

Charlotte Mason listed 20 principles that summarize the foundation to her method: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/20Principles.html

Lindafay at Higher Up and Further In has been a huge inspiration to me and here is her explanation of why she has chosen this method. http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-charlotte-mason-education.html

Deborah Taylor-Hough and Catherine Levison at Charlotte Mason & Home Education give us a good summary of Charlotte Mason: http://charlottemasoneducation.wordpress.com/charlotte-mason/who-is-charlotte-mason/

Jessica at Established Works tells us How I found Charlotte Mason and Why we use it: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Creativemommy/651515/

Lynn B Hocraffer gives us her notes as she read the original Charlotte Mason Home Education Series. Here is her introduction and some history on Charlotte Mason: http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/SeriesStudy.html

Art, a homeschool Dad, reflects on how a Charlotte Mason education has affected him: http://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/a-dangerous-adventure-by-art-in-kenosha/ You can read more of his thoughts at Le jardin Feerique: http://lejardinfeerique.blogspot.com/

Here is a brief summary of the why and then the how of a Charlotte Mason education. It is an article by Cindy Rushton. http://www.texashomeeducators.com/acharlottemasonprimer.htm

There are many more articles I could post but this topic can be overwhelming so I will stop here. I hope this gives you a good start to understanding the big picture of what it means to use the Charlotte Mason method in your homeschool, pubic or private school.

Update 8-1-09: Here is another good resource http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/